Happily Ever After
by AddieGreysPPPEvilRegal9119
Summary: "Can we just...pretend for just a moment that we're still in New York; Mark never happened, Meredith never happened, we never came to Seattle...you never became a workaholic...What do you think our lives would be like right now?" Derek and Addison's lives together had things been different. AU; One shot. Loosely based on a scene from 'To Change the things I Can'. Addek.


**Okay so, this story has been in my head for a couple of days now. Its actually based on a small exchange in "To Change the Things I can" that happened between Derek and Addison. Its given me some serious feels and, I need to get it out, especially since writing the next chapters of "Gone in the Night" and "God laughs" are so difficult at the moment. The title is based on this song by an R&B singer named Case. I hope you Addek fans enjoy!**

**Xx**

* * *

_Couldn't we be happily ever after?_

_We could be strong together for so long_

_Couldn't we be happily ever after?_

_Leaving never til forever's gone..._

"_Can we just...pretend for just a moment that we're still in New York; Mark never happened , Meredith never happened, we never came to Seattle...you never became a workaholic. What do you think our lives would be like right now?"_

"_Ya know, we'd have been married for nearly 20 years now?"_

"_That'd be interesting to see, us married for nearly 20 years..."_

_**-**_**Derek and Addison "To Change The Things I Can**

Pulling up into the circular driveway, a feeling of love rushes over her; she's home. The place where she finds the most peace and serenity. Its her sanctuary, where she comes to when she's had a long day at the office, or when she's lost a patient. Its the place she feels the most important, especially to the 5 (6 including her husband), smiling faces she sees on a daily basis. Coming home is the most rewarding feeling in the world to her.

Shutting off the engine of her all black Lexus, she makes her way towards the front door. Opening the door, she is flooded with a sea of memories that have occurred within the last 4 years. She lives in Boston now, a place she thought that she'd never move to. It makes perfect sense really, Boston is neutral; its close to her parents who live in Connecticut. Its just down the road from Derek's mother, who lives in Cambridge, and its only a couple of hours drive from their dear friend Mark who lives in New York. Yes, Boston is the perfect place to call home.

Today however, her house is quiet; which is unusual, considering that she has 5 children. Looking around, she finds once again, that her living room has been flooded with a sea of toys. Shaking her head, her mom duties instantly kick in and she's picking up her children's toys, amongst other things. She immediately spots Avery's teddy bear, Colin's basketball, Ryan's soccer ball, Katherine's ballet slippers and Madeline's book. The fact that she and Derek are highly organized people does not account for the fact that they have 5 very messy children.

She makes her way up the stairs towards the children's play room, which is far worse than her living room.

"Oh I am not cleaning this up" she says before tossing the aforementioned items into the dirty room and heading back downstairs to her still quiet house.

"That's odd; the kids don't have anything scheduled for today" she says to herself before checking her iPhone, which is basically her life. In it she keeps track of the kid's busy schedules which include, Dance, Piano, girl scouts, boy scouts, Soccer, and baseball, plus important surgeries, dates she and Derek scheduled for date night, the number to the hospital, the practice, Derek's office at Harvard, their parents, the on call nanny, the kid's friends...

"The schedule's clear for today...hmmm, I wonder where everybody is?" she says as she reaches the kitchen, looking around to find no signs of life, which is odd because if her kids aren't playing or sleeping, they're usually eating; which would account for their very high grocery bill.

"Hello? Derek? You guys, I'm home" she says, and suddenly, she hears it, the sound of small feet moving down the hallway which makes her smile. Listening more intently, she can hear the sound of giggles coming from the den. She has a grin on her face when she finds her husband and her two youngest children on the couch.

"Hi guys" she says with a smile as both Katherine and Madeline rush towards her, each wanting hugs.

They're 6 now, each of them looking exactly like Derek, though Maddie has strawberry blonde hair; each of the girls have eyes like their father.

"Hi mommy!" Maddie, the more aggressive of the two says, instantly demanding a kiss

"Hi Maddie, and hello to you Kitty" Addison says softly, reaching down to pick up her little angel, and the shyer, more reserved of the twins.

"Hi mommy, did you have a good day at work today?" Kitty asks

"I did; did you have a good day at school?"

"Uh huh; but Maddie got in trouble and had to sit in time out"

"Maddie..." Addison says, her voice still light, but full of business

"Hayden pushed me so, I poked him in the eye" she says with a shrug, causing her mother to shake her head

"You know, when we decided to name her after Mark, she really does live up to it; because Mark was a bully as well" Derek says, finally moving from his seat on the couch to greet his wife with a kiss.

And it with those lips on hers that she melts.

The fact that they've been married for nearly 20 years now is a testament to how long many said that they would last. Their families weren't exactly fond of their significant others(her family hated Derek and Derek's mother hated or still hates rather, her), but over the years, they've learned to accept their decision.

"Hi" she says softly, a smile gracing her delicate features

"Hey yourself; long day?" Derek asks, giving her his charming smile

"Pretty long, you?"

"Ah, not that long; I only taught a couple of classes today and I was asked to do a consult over at Mass Gen"

"Oh?"

"Mmhm; Alzheimer's patient, they think that maybe my research I've been doing could help"

"Does this mean that you'll end up in surgery sometime this week?"

"Maybe; I'm not even sure that it'll work; besides, I think I'm getting rusty. The fact that I spend most of my time teaching-"

"Derek, listen to me; you're a great doctor, honey. You're one of the best I know and the fact that you didn't take the job as chief and decided that your family was more important, doesn't make you any less of a surgeon. People come from all over the world to hear you lecture and to see you perform surgeries. If you want more time in the OR then you should do it. Reed's been dying to get you to sign a contract"she teases

"I do miss it" Derek admits

"Then, if you miss it, go back to it Derek; you can always just, guest lecture at the school when they need you and take on more OR time"

"What about the kids?"

"Well, I'm working at the practice most of the time so, I can be home with them and, if need be there's always Nancy or Kathleen or your sisters and we do have Jenna on standby as a nanny...the kids will be fine; they're not exactly babies anymore Derek" she says nodding towards the two six year olds in their arms

"You're right; I think I'll go talk to Reed tomorrow; I'm sure he'll be happy with that"

"I'll bet he will be...hey, were are the three musketeers?"

"Colin and Ryan are out back and Avery's...well, I don't know where she is"

"Probably with her nose in one of my medical books I'm sure" Addison says with a chuckle

"At least we have one kid who wants to follow in our footsteps"

"Hey, don't forget Colin wants to be a neurosurgeon like you and Amelia and Ryan wants to be a plastic surgeon like Mark so..."

"3 out of 5 isn't bad; now if only we could convince these two to become doctors" Derek says, tickling his daughters

"Nope. I'm gonna become an astronaut" Madeline says

"And I want to be a mommy, like mommy" Katherine says softly.

* * *

She heads out back to find her sons hovering over a table in the backyard, watching something intently.

"Hey boys, what are you up to?" she asks peering over her son's shoulders, almost wishing she hadn't; they're dissecting frogs, completely gross

"Hey mom" her oldest son Colin says with a smile; the fact that he's almost 13 and his voice is starting to change lets her know that he's not exactly a baby anymore, but a young man

"I would ask for hugs but, you guys are being just a little too disgusting for my taste right now" she says with a laugh, ruffling their hair, which is also dark like Derek's.

"Aw come on mom, you stick your hands inside of a woman's body cavity nearly everyday, how can frogs be so gross?" Ryan, the second oldest questions

"That's because people and frogs are totally different...by the way, are you guys doing this for fun or as a school assignment?" she asks

"Fun" they say unanimously before laughing

"You two are definitely your father's sons...lemme guess, you two found that poor innocent frog by the lake and decided to bring it home and splatter frog juice and guts all over my table huh?"

"Yeah"

"Pretty much" both boys say before laughing

"Alright you two, finish up with that and then go upstairs and wash up for dinner"

"What are we having?" Colin calls out as she walks away

"Frog!" She calls back jokingly

"Oh mom that's gross!"

"Oh, so eating frog is disgusting, but dissecting one is totally cool?"

"Yeah!" Colin calls back, making her shake her head and laugh

* * *

She finds her middle child, and oldest daughter upstairs in her somewhat neat bedroom reading a book.

"Hey you, I figured I'd find you up here" she says with a smile before entering

"Hi mom" Avery says, although she too has dark hair like Derek's, everything else about her is all her mother

"What are you reading?"

"Oh, just this book about the holocaust" Avery says nonchalantly

"You're reading a book about the holocaust and you're 9?"

"Mmhm, what's wrong with that? Would you rather me be reading some sleezy tabloid or walking around like some airhead talking about Justin Beiber?" She says, causing her mother to chuckle

"You have spent way too much time on the phone talking to Amelia and Trina" Addison says

"That's why they, are my inspirations...and you of course"

"Good to know; think you can stop reading about Hitler long enough and wash up for dinner?"

"Sure, what are we having?"

"Well, I told your brothers we were having frog" she says with a grin

"Oh ew mom, that's just gross!"

"I was only kidding! They're outside dissecting a frog" Addison says, laughing at the fact that Avery is now wearing the same expression that she was when she saw what her boys were doing

"They are so disgusting, almost as disgusting as daddy when he goes...fishing, yuck!" Avery says, making her mother laugh some more before pressing a kiss to the top of her head

"Alright, go wash up for dinner" she tells her before heading back downstairs

Walking back down the stairs, Addison smiles at the sight of her husband, already in the kitchen trying to decide what to feed their rambunctious 5 children. Even after all of these years, Derek Christopher Shepherd still has the ability to make her heart skip a beat. His back is towards her as he prepares dinner, so she takes the opportunity to sneak up behind him, startling him a bit.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you" she mutters, wrapping her arms around his waist as he turns to face her

"You know, you really are beautiful" Derek says, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear

"Yeah? You think I'm beautiful, even after having 5 kids, 2 of them being twins?"

"Addison, you, are the most beautiful woman I have ever met; the fact that you had 5 kids and they're all mine, only makes you more attractive to me" he says, pulling her towards him for a soft kiss.

Their marriage isn't perfect, it never has been; there are those rare moments when they argue, but they don't last long. The longest fight they had was right before she got pregnant with the twins and was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with having 3 kids along with the fact that Derek had just gotten the offer to become chief, which meant him spending more time at the hospital. It only took him learning that she was pregnant to refuse the offer as chief, making the brash decision to spend more time at home with his family; and she's been grateful for that decision ever since.

"You know, next year will be 20 years" she says softly, wrapping her arms around his neck

"I know; 20 years of us being married" he replies with a grin

"20 years is a long time to be married to someone"

"Yeah, but 20 years seems like nothing when you're married to the perfect person"

"You really think I'm perfect?"

"You, are everything I could ever ask or think of in a wife" he says

"Derek..." she says softly before kissing him passionately; their little moment suddenly becomes PG-13 once the twins show up downstairs

"Ew! Kissing is gross!" Madeline informs them as they break apart

"Sorry girls" Addison says with a smile before pecking Derek's lips, muttering the words 'we'll finish this later', a smirk on her face as she moves to grab an apron to help him finish dinner.

* * *

Dinner is as usual in the Shepherd household: crazy and chaotic. Once dinner is done, homework is checked before everyone settles into their usual evening activities, which includes playing video games for the boys, while Maddie, and Kitty sit around listening to their father play the guitar as Addison and Avery curl up in the recliner by the fireplace with a good book, with Addison simply enjoying the serenity of her life at the moment. Soon enough, its time for the children to start preparing for bed, seeing as they have school in the morning, and only a few more weeks until Thanksgiving break, which means that mid year exams will soon begin taking place. Once the twins are safely tucked into bed,(their nightlight on of course, even though Maddie pretends she doesn't need it), Addison heads into her bedroom to start preparing for bed herself.

Once she's done with her shower, she returns to the bedroom, a cloud of steam following her as she finds Derek already in bed, medical journal in his hands; this time, Addison's older sister Trina is on the cover, having found some innovative treatment that will somehow change the face of chemotherapy treatment in cancer patients.

"Reading Trina's research I see" Addison teases as she crawls into bed next to him

"It's compelling; the fact that she's had time to do this with a 7 year old kid on her hands plus another kid in college makes this even more interesting to read" Derek says; Trina has decided that life is far too short to spend it alone and decided to adopt a child; she already has a son in college, James, whose quite thrilled to have 7 year old Lauren be apart of his family.

"She's been working on this research for years but, she's been putting it off; I think she decided to look into it again after Colin, you know" Addison says referring to the one man she's ever seen her sister love, Colin, who died when James was a senior in high school...cancer. The two were married just 6 weeks before he passed away.

"I think that's what makes this even more amazing to read...I think Colin would be proud of her" Derek says

"He really would...hey Derek?"

"Hmmm?"

"You know I love you, right?"

"Well, its no secret Addie" he teases

"No really, I do...and if something like that ever happened to you-"

"Hey, it won't" Derek says softly, pulling his wife close to him

"But it could"

"Addison, I don't have cancer, and I'm not dying...I don't plan on dying until I'm at least 90, or have found a cure for Alzheimer's" he says to her causing her to pull him in closer

"I like the idea of you dying at 90 much better...I'd like it if you didn't die at all"She tells him honestly

"Let's not talk about the idea of me dying...I do believe that you promised me a later on what we were doing in the kitchen before Kitty and Maddie walked in on us" he says with a smirk

"I did promise you that we'd finish up later" she says before rolling on top of him, kissing his neck several times as his hands move underneath the tank top she's wearing instantly cupping her breasts before moving his lips towards hers.

Making love for them is as usual, perfect and passionate; once they've both reached the required 3 times climax rule, they settle for holding one another before drifting off to sleep...

_xxx_


End file.
